Mary Oliver Quotes

More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.

The truth doesn't have to do with cruelty, the truth has to do with mercy.

We're not, like, hard men.

Let no one underestimate the need of pity. We live in a stony universe whose hard, brilliant forces rage fiercely.

I am a little bit of a softie, yes. Actually I don't think it's softness, I think it's kindness.

There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.

I do have a delicate side.

I believe, in general, that even people that are self-pitying, you can feel for them.

I do feel that softness for the vulnerability and the innocence in our world, including my own.

Soft pity never leaves the gentle breast where love has been received a welcome guest.

And there is not anything in the world stronger than tenderness.

For Mercy has a human heart Pity, a human face: And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.

Shall I tell you what you have that other men don't?.... It's the courage of your own tenderness.

Kind words cost no more than unkind ones . . . and we may scatter the seeds of courtesy and kindliness around us at so little expense. If you would fall into any extreme let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists vigor and yields to softness.

Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.

Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting.

A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.

Compassion is contempt with a human face.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.

Pity is the deadliest feeling that can be offered to a woman.

I am a pretty emotional person. Any act of kindness or unkindness moves me. When I see a romantic couple sitting by the beach, it moves me. I don't break down or crack under pressure, but I am just sensitive.

Tenderness is a virtue.

Never laugh at those who suffer; suffer sometimes those who laugh.

Human it is to have compassion on the unhappy.